Process of making identification plates



Sept, l, 1931. B. J. PovALsKl 1.8219573 'I PROCESS OF MAKING IDENTIFICATION PLATES Filed April 25, 1929 Patented Sept. 1, 1931 BERNARD J'. POVALSKI,

E JERSEY GITYINEW JERSEY, AssrGNoE 'ro-EEDCO: SYSTEM, ING., A CORPORATION or nELAvmR-E` 'PEooEss oE ivneuzrive` InEumrrrcmfrro1v rLArEs 'Application led April 25,

My invention relates to an improved process of making identification plates, such for example as are applied to motor vehicles.

A specific obj ect of the linvention is to pro- '5' vide a process of making identification plates with indicia which can not be altered'without disclosing thefact that the plate has been tampered with, and which cannot be duplicated or counterfeited except at such expense as would be prohibitive to a counterfeiter, or Vby the use of equipment embodying heavy initial expense and an installation of such character as would betray the counterfeiter.

A further obj ect of the invention is to provide a new process for producing an identidcation plate with superposed embossed designs or indicia, the surface otone design showing in a metal of diierent color from the rest of the plate, and the ,f eneral effects being similar to that of. the plates described in Patent No.1,656,928. y n

The identification platedescribed in said patent was' of substantial thickness with the embossings shown on'oneface only. It is an object ofthe present invention to provide an identification plate made 'of comparatively thin sheet metal, so that the embossing'will appear in reverse on the under face ofthe plate. K n

3 0 Another Objectis to provide an identification plate formed with'a down-turned marginal flange or rim, so as to give the appear ance of thickness and substantiality. The plate provided by my present'invention is less expensive in the amount of material used than'that described in said patent and the process of 'manufacturing the same is much simplified, .y Y I In the process described in said-gpatent,

40 a single patterned die was used at each embossing step and the body of the plate h-adto be made of comparatively thick metal and also of a metal which would flow readily into the recessed portions of the die. In the present process, male and female dies are used so that a relatively hard metal maybe used to advantage. The plates maybe formed in a strip of metal and need'not be cut out of the strip until they have been otherwise completed. Thus,a set of integrally connected Ato another embossing step;

i929. seriai No. 357,970,

plates maybe put through the various steps i i of my process, thereby effecting a consider- `able `saving in operating expense over that involved in the individual handling of plates requiredby previous processes.`

A convenient way of attach`ng the identification plate to a support is to spot weld it at one or vmore places, and an object of the present invention is to form the plate with a weld spot (i. e. with a smallfacingsuitable to be spot welded to a base) and with an area of weakness surrounding the vweld spot, so that after welding, the weld spot will tear out, if anyone 'attempts to detach the plate from its support, and hence will mutilate the plate so that it cannot be used again.

The plate'produced by the presentiprooess is similar to that described'in'my copending application, Serial No. 357,967, filed concurrently herewith, but the process diiers vthere-y from in ainumber-of particulars', notably in vavoiding a plating step between embossings.

The above named and other objects or my invention', will either be pointed out specifically or will `be readily apparent in the following description of my novel process of producing a specic form of identification plate, but it will be understood that the process may be, adaptedto themaking of other Hforms of plates as well, without departing from the spiritiand scopeof the invention as pointed outl in the claims.

In the accompanying'drawings Figurel 1 is a fragmentary' plan view of a stripsof metal as it appears after being sub-V jected to, an initial embossing andfcupping step 'of my process;

Fig. 2 1s ank enlarged view incross section,

thel section being taken onvthe line 2-2 of Fis-1;- W i l Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan viewy of the strip of metal after being subjectedto a further step of my'process,

' Fig. Ais an enlarged view in cross section, the section beingtaken on the line 4-4 ofy Fig. 5 1s a plan view of the obverse face of the `strip of metal after being subjected Fig. 6 is a view of the reverse face of the strip shown Yin Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view in cross section, the section being taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 8 is a. plan view of the strip .of metal shown in Fig. 5 after being subjected to a' further step of my process, and

Fig. 91' isA a plan view of a portion of the. linished plate.

In carrying out my improved process, I employ a strip of sheet metal which is of light color, and the first step of the process consists in plating the stripv With a. metalv of darker color. AIf desired, the colors could be reversed using a dark metal for the base and coating the base with ar plating of lighter color. metal.. In any case, the object is to provide a contrast of colorbetween the base of thestrip, and the plated coating. Preferably, too,l thefmetals should be substantially'non-corrosive and one of the metals should be capable of beingk oxidized under a certain treatment which Will not oxidize the other metahor if both the metals are oxidized by the same VoXidZingstep they should show a marked colory contrast after oxidation.

.In the particular embodiment of my inventionV chosen for illustration I employ a strip of Monel meta-l 10 and. coat the strip with a plating 11 ofy copper. The strip thus plated is indicated', inthe drawings by the reference numeral 12- They strip 12 is vthen subjected to an. initial embossing operationqyvlrich4 will' formr raised characters or indicia-13 on. the face of the metal.l For this purpose maler and female dies are.- used so thatthe indicia will' showin reverse on `the under face ofthe plate. The next step is to run. the stri-pthrough another set of male and female embossing dies to form a raised border or frame 14 for. each plateth.e embossing being deep enoughto cupl the plateand form a marginal flange or rim l5 of substantial di'- mensions, as shown inA Fig. 2j. It will' be understood that the sectional views. Figs. 2, 4, and 7 are greatly enlarged' and for purposes of illustration greatly exaggerate the Thewinitial embossings produced on' the strip 12 are made successively and Withfa diflerent set of indicia 13 Yfor each plate.. In order lto bring the initial' embossings into proper register for the subsequent cuppingV other; suitable coa-ting material, sothat the strip then takes onthe' appearanceillusrated in Figs. 3 and 4. The coating is .a stippled. sur-face on that portion of' the shown at 17 in Fig. 4 and is indicated by the vertical shade lines in Fig. 3.

On inspecting Fig. 4 it will be observed that the coating, owing to its viscosity, Will form fillets 17a in the corners of the embossing, the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter. After the japan has been applied, the plate is baked, or otherwise treated to harden the coating thereon. e

The. next step of the process is to grind oii the coating and also the plating on the raised parts ofthe strip. This grinding is carried down to the line A-A of Fig. 4. Thus, the border 14 and the-'raised surfaces of the indicia. 18. Will appear in the Whiter metal 10.

thefstrip to final embossingr which Will apply a design or set of indicia 18, directly over the indicia 113. This design may be of l any. suitable character, and` is here represented as consistingy of' the vertical vbar 19 intersected by the name Caroner andl a medallion 20.. The dies for the second em The next step ofthe process is to subject bos'sing are so cut as to repeat the embossing A of the framebut the rest ofthe initial embossing Will be flattened' by the secondv em.- bassing. However, the coating 17 which remains` on the intaglio parts of the 'rst embossing Will preserve said' embossing, from vferred to, Wilt cause the outlines of the origvinalv embossing to be impressed into. the surface of the strip. Inv order. to make the indicia 13. show up4 clearly from` all angles, thev dies used inthe final'` embossing are provided with stippled pads which will produce plate in which the indicia 13 are located. rEhe result will be similar to that. shown in Fig. 5. Because ofthe coating 17` the stip.- pling will. not. showy prominently, if at'all,

on the metal surfacesexcept. those ofthe indicia 13.

As explained in said copendi'ng applicat1on,.1t isA desirable to form the plate with roundedby lines of weakness 22,. so that` kwhen the spots. 21. are Welded to a suitable support the plate cannot be; removed from said support Without tearing along the lines press. a groove 22 in the plate and leave a fiat Weld spot Withinthe groove. The feflat Weld spots 2l on the reverseV side, surof'weaknesa The lines of Weakness are. pro- `duced forming the Ymale die with an in- -sert having an annular rim WhichI will' izo male die is not correspondingly indented and hence the insert reduces the thickness Vof Y metal in an annu-lar groove which` doesV not show through on the'l obverse face of the plate..

. Thefnext step of the! operation. is to remove solving it with a suitable solvent. The plate will then appear as indicated in Fig. 8. The letters and numerals 13 and the border 14 will show in a lighter metal on the darker copper surface of the rest of the plate, and the surfaces of the indicia 13 will be stippled or roughened as indicated in the drawings. j

To provide a further contrast between the Monel metal and the copper plating, the strip is then subjected to an oxidizing process which turns the copper plating to a dark, almost black color. If desired, certain parts of the oxidized copper surface may be burnished to remove the oxide, so that they will stand out in a bright copper color against the dark oxidized ground. rIhus, in Fig. 9, I have shown the medallion 20 as burnished, to show in bright copper color.

The final step of the operation is to pass the strip 12 through a blanking-out die which will cut the plates out of the strip at the base of the rim 15.

I/Jhile I refer to japan as a suitable coating, other materials can be used, such, for instance, as silicate of soda. If silicate of soda is used the coating may be dried without baking. Other materialswill also suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. It is desirable, however, that the coating material be of a viscous nature when applied, and, when dried or otherwise hardened, that it be hard enough to stand up under the grinding operation and yet be pliable enough not to crack or flake under the final embossing operation. Instead of grinding the coating off the raised surfaces after the first indicia and the border have been embossed, the coating may be removed by any other suitable means, such for instance as scraping it off or dissolving it, In some cases it may be desirable to omit the step of removing the coating. In such cases the exposed surfaces of the first embossing could be oxidized or otherwise treated to show a marked color contrast, for while I have referred to copper and Monel metal as a desirable combic nation, other metals can also be used provided they would show sufiicient contrast to make one set of indicia readable through the other set. Obviously the nature of the indicia or designs employed may be varied at will. If desired the indicia 13, the border 14C and the cupping of the plates m-ay all be formed by a single embossing. These and other variations in my process may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of -my invention as pointed out in the following claims.

I claim:

1. In the process of making identification plates of the character described, the stepsV which consist in, providing a strip of sheet metal with a facing of a different metal, the two metals being such as show a marked cont i trast when subjected to oxidation, embossing the strip to forma plate with raised indicia thereon and 'a down-turned marginal rim, covering the plate with a protective coating, removing the coating and metal facing from the raised surfaces of the plate, embossing the plate with other in dicia superposed on the first, removing the coating, subjecting the plateto oxidation, and burnishing a part of the oxidized portion of the plate move the oxide therefrom.

2. In the process of making identification plates ofthe character described, the steps which consist in, providing a strip of sheet y metalwhich will not materially darken when exposed to oxidation, plating the strip with metal which will not materially darken when subjected to oxidation, embossing the strip to form a plate with raised indicia thereon and a down-turned marginal rim, covering the 'raised indicia thereon and a down-turnedw -margmalrmn removing the metal platingV from the raised surfaces of the embossing to expose the light colored body metal` subjecting the plate to a second embossing to form raised indicia superposed on the first indicia and to stipple the 'exposed surfaces of 5 Ythe first named indicia, and coating the metal plated portions of the plate between embossings to prevent oblite'ration ofthe first named indicia by the second embossing and being stippled. 4. In theprocess of `making identification plates of the character described the steps which'consistcin, plating, a strip of sheetf metal vof light color with a'platingofmetal of a darker color, embossing the strip between vmale and female diestoform a plate with raised indicia thereon, removing the metal plating `from the raised surfaces of the embossing to expose the light colored body metal, subjecting lthe plateto a second embossing to form raised indicia superposed on the first indicia and yto stipple the exposed surfaces of the first named indicia, coating the metal plated portions of the plate between Vembossings to Vprevent obliteration lof the first namedindicia by the second embossing and protectthe plated portions of the Aplate from ilo iis izs

protect the plated portions ofthe plate from being stippled, removing the coating after the second embossing, and` cutting the plate out of the strip.

5. In the process of making identification plates of the character described the steps which consist in, plating a strip of sheet meta-l with a instal` of different color, embossin@r the plate between male and female dies to form a' plate with raised indicia thereon and a down-turned marginal rim, covering the plate with a protective coating, removing the coating and metal plating from the raised surfaces of the embossing, and subjecting the plate to a secondv embossing between male and female dies to form other raised indicia superposed on the first named indicia and to form a flat Weld spot onthe under-face of the plate and to impress a region of Weakness in the under-face of the plate around the Weld spot.

6. Inthe process of making identification plates of the character described the steps which consist in, plating a strip of sheet metal With a metal of different color, embossing the plate between male and female dies to form a plate with raised indicia thereon and a down-turned marginal rim, covering the plate with a protective coating, removing the 'coating and metal plating from the raised surface of the embossing, subjecting the plate to a second embossing between male and Vfemale dies to form other raised indicia superposed on the first named indicia and to Y form a flat Weld sopt on; the under face of the plate and to impress a region of Weakness in the under face of the plate around the Weld spot, removing the coating, and cutting the pla-te out of the strip.

7. In the process of making identification plates of the character described the steps which. consist in, providing a strip of light colored sheet metal which will not materially darken When exposed to an oxidizing treatment, plating the strip With metal which Will materially darken when exposed to said oxidizing treatment, embossing the plate between male and female dies to form a plate with raised indicia thereon anda down-turned marginal rim, covering the obverse face of the plate with a protective coating except on raised surfaces of the embossing, removing the metal plating from said surfaces, embossingV other raised indicia over the first named indicia, roughening the exposed metal surfaces of the plate on the obverse face thereof, impressing a groove in the reverse face of the plate to form a region of Weakness, removing the remainder of the coating, subjecting the plate tosaid oxidizing treatment,.burn ishing a part of the obverse face of the plate `.plate to remove the oxide therefrom, and y blanking the plate outof the strip.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification.

BERNARD J. POVALSKI. 

